I haven't seen a doctor in a very long time. The last time I tried, I got given to a "nurse practioner" who gave me one of the biggest pieces of bullshit diagnoies I've ever had. I really should see a doctor, as I'm behind on immunizations and I should also get tested for thyroid levels (for various reasons.) I have MIT medical through Greg's work. Greg likes his doctor well enough (who is also listed as my doctor) but that doctor is always busy, so more than likely you get shuttled off to a nurse practitioner.

Anyone have a recommendation for different MIT medical doctor? Things that are important to me is that the doctor is willing to say, "well, I don't know, but here's why I'm guessing this..." needs to not treat me like a hypochondriac when I'm trying to give them as much information as possible, especially when I haven't seen a doctor in ages, and isn't so busy as I might actually get to see them.

I think that feeling that I'm bothering them by giving information is the biggest thing from keeping me from going to the doctor.

Not sure if you were trying to generalize about NPs (nurse practitioners) or not, but if you were, while I totally believe there are moron NPs, I don't think that's a rule. In some ways, I trust an NP more than a doc. I've heard of many people going the NP route because they get nearly all the authority/responsibility of patient care without all the rest (administration, some flavors of politics). Also, I don't know if med school / residency drums out the people going into medicine just for the status; if not, then a status-oriented person is going to go for their MD, not NP.

Now, all that said, anyone doing patient contact who doesn't listen to the patient is a moron. Go you for not putting up with that. :)

Have you tried using the question, "What else could it be?"? I forget where I read that that's a good way to get a doc to reboot their line of thinking (I think I heard that on an NPR segment, actually) because 1, they hopefully start from scratch, 2, without you implying that you think they're wrong.

I think that feeling that I'm bothering them by giving information is the biggest thing from keeping me from going to the doctor.

If you're amenable to solutions: maybe write out your signs and symptoms? Offhand, it might help you marshall your thoughts, and maybe the care provider would be more amenable to working through a fixed list.

No, I wasn't trying to say that all NPs are bad. Just the ones that I've run into at MIT medical and more about the frustration of picking a doctor and then getting thrown to the random pool of NPs in most cases.

At MIT Medical, if there's an internal medicine NP who you do like, you can request them by name, and usually still get an appointment the next day for non-urgent problems. When I got my health care through MIT Medical (I switched insurance away from there recently), I got most of my non-midwife care from Lorraine Toher. I don't like being thrown at the triage pool, either, and I also had the problem at MIT Medical that the doctors are seriously rushed, when it comes to appointments - most will be able to see you for 12 minutes, scheduled three weeks in advance, or something stupid like that.

Also, if you're looking for anything that falls under "well woman care" (pap smear, breast exam, birth control, vaccinations, thyroid test) the midwives are a good bet. The office at MIT Medical is a branch of "Midwives at Mount Auburn", and their MIT office offers regular appointments on Mondays and Thursdays. Like the nurse practitioners (well, which they are) you can latch onto one you like, if you feel like it, though I believe I've met every one of them, and they were all acceptable to me. (Not so for the doctors in ob-gyn.)

There are some medical providers who see a list and immediately write the patient off as a complainer or hypochondriac. There are others who see the patient at wanting to be thorough and participate in their own care. Detecting which type you will get is impossible to do beforehand. And then, if you got the prejudging moron and they write it into your record, the next provider (if they read your file) will make the assumption that you aren't to be taken seriously.

I recommend that for the first visit, the list be memorized until you find out what kind of provider you have.